«Elegy Here and Beyond». Genres, Canons, and Lyric Variations in Central European Modern and Contemporary Poetry through János Pilinszky’s Œuvre

Abstract

This paper, an excerpt from my forthcoming monograph on contemporary Hungarian elegy, explores the Baudelairean and Rilkean roots of the genre. Drawing on French modernism, I examine the Hungarian reception of Baudelaire from the perspective of lyric poetry and genre history. This approach is reflected both in the theoretical introductory chapter—focusing on the elegy, anti-elegy, self-elegy, and the elegiac-ironic modality—and in the historical-poetic overview, which traces his reception from its beginnings to contemporary adaptations. My research in this field was the first to introduce the concept of the ‘elegiac-ironic modality’, tracing its historical roots back, among other sources, to Baudelaire’s notion of spleen. A central focus of this study is the transmission of Baudelairean elegy into Hungarian lyric poetry, a question investigated here through the work of János Pilinszky, one of the foremost poets of Hungarian modernism.